Colony Said To Lead AEG Bids

Tom Barrack’s Colony Capital LLC is reportedly the lead bidder for Anschutz Entertainment Group.

The bidding price hovers around $8 billion, according to Bloomberg, and Patrick Soon-Shiong – the Los Angeles billionaire whose name was synonymous as a buyer and who sat in the audience next to AEG President Tim Leiweke at a recent Los Angeles city council meeting – is unlikely to make a matching bid, according to one source.

Guggenheim Partners, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team as well as Prometheus Global Media (which runs trades like Billboard and Hollywood Reporter), has backed out, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Colony and its partner are reportedly bidding below the asking price, and sources said Anschutz may not sell. Colony owns the Miramax film library and Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.

“We are not going to comment either on the identities of bidding parties or values being proposed by bidders during the sales process,” an Anschutz spokesman told the news service.

AEG negotiations are apparently on hold while its namesake, billionaire Philip Anschutz, recovers from back surgery.